Korea casts eager eye on N.Z. squid

Press, 12 April 1978, Page 7

Korea casts eager eye on N.Z. squid

Seoul South Korean fisheries officials are eagerly eyeing the squid fishing ground within New Zealand’s 200-mile economic zone since the exclusion of the Japanese fishmg fleet. Government Ministers and senior officials in Seoul have made it clear that the South Korean fleet has the capacity to exploit the squid grounds, and would like to fish them. “Our squid fishing is quite developed and we have ample capacity to move squid boats to New Zealand if we can get an extra allocation of catch quota to cover that,” said Mr Kim Sang Soo, chief of the international cooperation division of the Office of Fisheries. “We have applied for an extra quota for squid and the New Zealand Government has said it will consider the application favourably,” he said. The Korean interest in New Zealand’s squid grounds parallels the disappointment felt by Japanese squid fishermen at their exclusion from waters which this year provided them with a high yield of top quality squid. Mr Kim said South Korea had applied to the New Zealand Government to have 92 fishing vessels licensed to fish New Zealand waters. This compares with only 21 vessels which worked off the New Zealand coast last year. But Mr Kim said it was intended that boats licensed for New Zealand waters would not fish the area throughout

the seasons. They ' would be switched to other fishing grounds of the Pacific from time to time under a comprehensive industry catch plan. The South Korean licensing application “bottom liners,” 63 tuna covers seven trawlers, 16 long liners, and six “carrier” vessels. Carrier ships are used to take the catch of the others back to Pusan, home base for the Korean fleet. Mr Kim said that although Korea’s interest in New Zealand waters did not cover a full 12-month period last year, its fishing industry had harvested 46,000 tonnes of fish. It had asked the New Zealand Government for a catch allocation of 72,000 tonnes a year, within the zone and been allocated 32,000 tonnes. He believed, said Mr Kim, that the potential catch in New Zealand waters was much larger than the New Zealand Government’s estimate. Korean fisheries research, however, was not as advanced in New Zealand waters as Seoul would like, and it was intended to continue research and analysis to develop a full knowledge of the best grounds and migratory patterns. The Japanese had done much more research, he said. Korean vessels entering waters off the New Zealand coast had initially followed the Japanese fishing pattern but this year had found their own grounds. “You have many virgin waters there, and we think that based on catch fig-

ures from the sea off Japan and off the coast of Korea, there should be a much bigger resource than has so far been realised.” Mr Kim said the Korean Government was negotiating with New Zealand on licence fees for Korean ships. Korean fisheries interests argued that fees should be based on the fish catch rather than on ship tonnage. This was because if fees were paid on tonnage, shipowners had to pay fees to many countries. “If it is to be a ton-nage-based fee, it should be cheap because of this factor,” Mr Kim said. ■ The United States required licence fees to be paid according to the total fish catch allocation, on a species basis established through the international landed price of the fish. The New Zealand Government policy for tuna licensing fees was based on payment according to species caught. This meant varying fee payments according to a boat’s catch of such tuna species as blue fin, albacore, yellow fin, and big eyes. It could be difficult for the Korean industry to maintain regular catch reports every 60 hours as required by New Zealand regulations. Sometimes it would be impossible for the industry representative to get necessary information from all boats in time for each required report. “But we are delighted to have an allocation in New Zealand waters and we will do our best to work in close co-operation with your authorities,” Mr Kim said.